Fr. (Don) Michele de Paolis concelebrated Mass with Pope Francis at the Domus Santa Martha and then presented the pontiff with gifts of a wooden chalice and paten and a copy of his most recent book, “Dear Don Michele – questions to an inconvenient priest”.

In a previous book, Don Michele wrote, “homosexual love is a gift from (God) no less than heterosexual.” He also disparaged the idea of homosexual couples not having sex.

Francis closed the meeting by kissing the priest’s hand, a gesture that the far-left newspaper L’immediato called one “revealing the humility of a great man to another of the same stature.” De Paolis described the unusual papal gesture himself in a post to his Facebook page, saying that he asked Francis for an audience with the priest’s other organization, the Community of Emmaus: “Is that possible?”

He said that the pope replied, “Anything is possible. Talk to Cardinal Maradiaga and he shall prepare everything.”

“And then (unbelievably) he kissed my hand! I hugged him and wept,” de Paolis concluded.

The gesture has made something of a sensation in Italian media and ‘blogs since de Paolis is a well-known figure in Italy as a leading clerical apologist for the homosexualist ideology. He ostensibly met with Francis in his capacity as the founder of Emmaus Community in the southern Italian city of Foggia that assists the poor and those suffering from AIDS.

The article then included the following:

LifeSiteNews asked Vatican spokesman Fr. Frederico Lombardi for clarification as to the nature of the encounter but received no reply by press time.

On FB, I linked the Lifesite article with the following criticism from me:

Some other award winning and sensational headlines from years gone by:

Rabbi Claims to be Doctor for the Sick, Ends Stoning of Adulteress. Is He Encouraging Sin?

Rabbi has it Backward. Conversion FIRST, Then Acceptance.

Sorry, but I’m beginning to see a heartlessness and self-righteousness in conservative and orthodox circles that is unnerving. As Father Groeschel once told me, “The sins against sex are the most humiliating, but the sins against charity are the most damning.”

This sparked something of an uproar, so much so that Lifesite printed a clarification of their position, and one of the editors called and had an extensive conversation with me. (I’ve been a contributing blogger for a few years). The conversation was frank, civilized, and gentlemanly. While it did much to clear the air, there is a larger, lingering issue that needs to be addressed by pro-life and orthodox Catholics; A question, really.

Who do we say Francis is?

Since his election, Francis has brought a style that has provided ample grist for the pro-life mill. Many have feared, openly and scandalously, that he is about to break with established church teaching on moral norms. And at every turn they have been proven wrong. He famously stated that one need not discuss the issues of abortion and homosexuality all the time, which sent most pro-life leaders into the stratosphere.

And for good cause.

Increasingly, we see the marriage between the gay rights movement and the culture of death through their support of in vitro fertilization and related technologies, the support for abortion, gay marriage, and the general support of left-leaning politicians. Western civilization’s implosion is accelerating and being catalyzed by these very issues.

Or is it?

Perhaps Francis sees these issues not as cause, but as effect. Perhaps Francis sees the breakdown as beginning in other areas and these latter issues are the final manifestation of a spiritual rot that has been progressing below the surface for quite some time. How can one know, or be sure? Is Francis a closet heretic and apostate, as some fear, or maverick pastor who is resorting to the audacious in order to snap people out of their torpor? How can one know?

In pursuit of this answer, and also in attending to several family matters (mostly good stuff), I have taken a self-imposed break from blogging, from the need to report, to comment, to publish with great regularity. The sabbatical has been both productive and refreshing. It has also confirmed for me some concerns regarding Francis. So, here it is.

I said this a year ago, and it is as true now, as it was then:

He. Is. Peter.

That’s who I say Francis is. He is the Vicar of Christ on Earth, and that dread reality ought to make people pause before they publish news articles that call his character, morality, and motives into question. The thought that a deadline for publication should trump waiting for a reply from the Vatican spokesman where the reputation of the pope hangs in the balance suggests that perhaps we have crossed a line over here in the right wing. It suggests that we have established ourselves as a shadow College of Cardinals, advising our pope in print and tearing into him when he dares to march to his own drum.

If our Jesuit, hand-kissing, iconoclastic pope has aroused our ire, perhaps it is because he is shattering our icons of ourselves. Perhaps this pope sees that abortion and homosexuality are rooted in other serious ills that need also to be addressed, and that attacking root causes clears up a great deal of downstream issues like homosexuality and abortion.

Perhaps Jorge Bergolio brings with him to the Chair of Peter a perspective that we in the Northern Hemisphere simply do not grasp. The very people whom he grew up with, cherished and valued, ministered to in their poverty are largely our illegal aliens in the United States- a people resented here, even despised. So, when Bergolio/Francis speaks of the need to make these people a priority, and not speak all the time of abortion and homosexuality, he speaks from a perspective that runs up hard against the conservative, Republican/ Tea Party politics that animate so many of us in the pro-life movement and the orthodox wing of the church. It is difficult to separate the integration of our politics and faith, especially when the two dovetail so nicely on the life issues.

Still, Francis is calling us to espouse some of that espoused by our political opponents here in North America, and that means breaking the mold and entering the dangerous waters of consensus politics, of becoming odd bedfellows with the political lepers of the left.

Francis sees where the disintegration, the alienation takes place. It’s in the heart. That is most evident in those who castigated him for concelebrating with a brother priest who was never disciplined by Popes John Paul II or Benedict, and neither by Cardinals Ratzinger or Burke when they headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I suspect that all of these very “imprudent” actions on Francis’ part are reaching many homosexuals and lesbians at the core of their woundedness, and suggesting to them that they are not the lepers in the church that secular media have suggested that they are. What comes of this revolutionary pastoral approach remains to be seen.

Until then, Francis IS Peter. His choice was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he is in need of our prayers. Moreso, we need to pray for ourselves, for the gifts of wisdom and courage, vision and strength, and above all, humility.

Dr. Nadal, thanks for your insight on this matter. LifeSite News often marches to their own drummer. Recently, their ‘drummer’ issued a statement that was contrary to Catholic leaders (Cardinal Collins and Archbishop Miller) on how Catholics may support gestational limits to abortion and also misrepresented what Canadian Bishops said on an abortion related topic some years ago. I’ll follow the teaching of Pope Francis and our Canadian Cardinals on all things Catholic rather than those who for reasons unknown to me would say to do otherwise.

The Holy Father seems to be a “riddle wrapped in an enigma.” He is Peter in so many ways. One aspect that has not received much press comes from his hometown, Buenos Aires, what it meant symbolically to South America and now to the whole world.

And Jesus wept, and Peter wept bitterly. So too Francis, and kissing the hand of this priest was not unlike St. Francis of Assisi’s kissing the hands of a wayward priest and all other priests without casting judgment..

The Seraphic Father sets the standard: “wanted priests who handle the tremendous and greatest sacraments to be honored uniquely by the brothers, so that whenever they met them, as they bowed their heads to them, they would kiss their hands. And if they found them on horseback, he wanted them not only to kiss their hands, but, out of reverence for their power, even the hooves of the horses upon which they were riding” (L3C 57).

I agree Pope Francis needs our prayers. On what basis do you say that his choice was inspired by the Holy Spirit ? Are you saying that it is church dogma that his election was inspired by the Holy Spirit? I don’t think so.

Number one no pope is chosen by the Holy Spirit Benedict stressed this himself. If it is just the so called Orthodox and Conservatives that see a problem with his approach, listen to what Ralph Martin Bill Donohue and now even Father Dwight Longknecker have recently said about him. These three are not in this rad traditional group. Yet they all have said Francis has a communication problem. These three men are EWTN and NCR and AMU regulars. So if they think there is a problem and say so then their is. If and we know Francis is Peter than he better start acting and more importantly TALKING like our first pope and stop all of these confusions. It seems that every time he goes on a major trip he has some big controversy follow him. Last year it was Who AM I to Judge and the interviews. This time its the way he acted in the middle East and angering people on both sides not to mention throwing Pius off the bus now because of the Jewish Groups. Once and for all Pope Francis is NOT a SUPERHERO pope stop treating him like one.

Janet, Did I say he was a superhero pope? No, I didn’t. Show me where he has abrogated a single jot or tittle of the moral law. He hasn’t. If you want to throw stones at the Vicar of Christ, who am I to judge?

Gerard M. Nadal writes : “Show me where he has abrogated a single jot or tittle of the moral law.”

Show me in turn that most average Catholics don’t think there has been some type of an abrogation with more expected.

The law has not been changed because it cannot be changed, but the average Catholic thinks there has been a change with more to come, and that is where the complaint is because that is where the problem is.

For instance praising Cardinal Kasper doesn’t change the law, but it does change not only how the law is perceived, but more importantly how the law is lived.

[If the average Catholic is confused, then it is OUR duty to enlighten them, and help them to be less average, and more informed, rather than make the argument for the pope to stand down. ~G.N.]

You forgot this headline from the past. Jesus shows compassion for adulteress woman but reminds her that sin is deadly.

“Neither do I condemn you (compassion). Go your way, and from now on do not sin again (conversion).”

Compassion for this life, conversion for the next. Both are pastoral and done out of love. So yes one wonders why these stories do not also include the Pope’s admonition to this priest that he is teaching sin

[Johnnyc, It is not clear that the pope knew of his dissident teaching, or if the priest in question was introduced as being with the organization that ministers to AIDS patients. Even if he knew, a private admonition would be dictated by charity ~G.N.]